The Jade Amulet
by Oky Verlo
Summary: The Jade amulet is given to those who the Vampire King Duzell protects and it has only been given to two people ... so why are both of them dead? Up for adoption; I totally forgot where I was going with this, sorry. XP
1. Once a vampire, now a prince

The Jade Amulet is my first fan fiction so just tell me what you think of it.

Why? Why can't I find her? Why is she not here? Mother, why wouldn't you let me use my magic to save you? Why did you except…no …embrace death?

Ishtar, the most respected queen of Pheliosta, because she followed her heart not her advisors heads (Keld mostly) and it seems like I am the only one who notices she is gone, even though the whole kingdom grieved for weeks.

I am Duzell, heir to the throne and the youngest child of her majesty Queen Ishtar.

Her other son Phelios (my big brother who is so damn full of himself he wouldn't grieve) has inherited the kingdom only because of his age, which is two minutes older than me, his twin!

On her deathbed, mother was asked by Keld for her will, but he was told 'within the mind, locked away, lies the key, and it's there to stay. When he is acknowledged, all will be revealed, all my minds secrets, will no longer be sealed.' Keld was about to hit her except for the fact that she was dying.

Everyone took it to mean that when everyone fully acknowledges Phelios, somewhere in the back of his mind, mother told him where her will is.

I think I am going to hurl! Phelios doesn't need any more damn praise! His already receiving too much of it. All it means is when we are ready to hear the truth about everything we will remember where her will is, we each know half of where it is, and Phelios just needs to become mature enough to remember 'cause I already remember my half!

I don't know why I put up with him! I could just run away and then he'd never know where her will is.

But I will wait because she asked me to.

And if she asks, I will do all in my power to oblige.

So what do you think? I may write another chapter if I am bored.

See ya later.


	2. Now they too are gone

The Jade Amulet continues MWA HA HA!

Darres, our father, had gone to Razenia to help protect Queen Falan, when things were on the brink of war.

He died protecting aunt Falan, and she survived but, Ishtar our mother, broke down at the news of his death, and for three months Keld took over ruling the country, because no-one else was fit enough.

Ishtar soon got back on her feet, she said it was because we were there to help her, and she ruled the country differently from before, making sure everyone had enough to eat, enough money to live, and all the stuff people deserve, everyone loved her more than ever.

But inside she was slowly wasting away.

Then on our 21st birthday, after Keld had given us our 11th pair of lilke rings, she gave us a pair of gold amulets, saying 'even when the sun goes down, and I no longer, have the crown, your life has my heart in your hands, my magic will always grant your demands.'

I still don't know what she meant, but so far the sun has set many times, and she is no longer queen so at least half the riddle is true.

But on her deathbed, because I could not prevent it, I gave her an amulet of jade saying 'even in death we will always treasure you.'

And to that she smiled, a smile which simply said 'thank you.'

Damn I miss her.

But life goes on, and memories disappear, and emotions fade.

This is what I hate about Phelios, I asked him what he remembers most about mother and he replied 'that I was born first so I inherit everything, and you have to wait until I die to get your un-holy claws on it.'

The bastard is going the right way for me to kill him alright, but I promised her I wouldn't harm him because he was still her son.

Even through death, mother is still Phelios' guardian angel.

What do you think of chapter two? Oh come on please, please review.


	3. A Light in the Dark

I do not own Vampire Game by the by! –Cries-

_I miss mother so much … it's starting to get to me … mother once told __me that I am the reincarnation of the Vampire King Duzell, and my brother King Phelios. When I was younger I was always confused by that … but recently it's started making sense … I can see my past life. At times I am fighting and at others I am being held by mother … and I can remember loving her so much, I cast the spell of 'La Gamme' so that I could save her and Darres … my father. Whoever said that time heals all wounds forgot to put reincarnated vampires into his list. I understand now why I have always gone to mother for protection, guidance and forgiveness… My past self still exists in me. _

"Prince Duzell! Please wake up! Breakfast will be served in an hour!"

_I thanked the maid for waking me and began to get ready. As I looked in the mirror, I jumped back in fright. Mixing with my reflection I saw my previous appearance … the Vampire King Duzell.__ Long hair the colour of the moon falls past my shoulders, and eyes the colour of blood stare back at me. Even though this image is my own, it terrifies me… but mother wasn't scared. It shows how amazing she was… a single tear marks my cheek. In almost every way, I am the image of my mother. The only differences (aside from gender) were our height, and our eyes. I was __just__ taller than mother… but even though our eyes were both the colour of emeralds … mothers were more beautiful … more radiant. I slowly fingered the amulet she gave me… it nearly never leaves my neck… having it with me at all times… just makes me calmer, even just a tiny bit, when things are not going well._

_I made my way down to the dining hall… as usual, I am here before Phelios, but he will be caught up with all the maids and servants giving him morning greetings. That's one plus side to being who I am; despite being a prince, I'm for the most part left alone. I took my seat and started waiting for however long it would take for Phelios to arrive, when all of a sudden, Keld came and started talking to me._

"Hello Prince Duzell… how are you this morning?"

_The fact that Keld is speaking to me is in itself a miracle, so I can't just not reply_

"I'm fine Sir Keld … How have you been? You have been having chest pains recently, have you not?"

_Keld looks slightly surprised by my comment on his health. It's a bad habit of mine… I can tell when some things wrong. Mother was like that too… perception hidden under layers of deceit. Keld and I end up talking for another five or so minutes before we hear Phelios arrive. I heard Keld mutter under his breath about some thing being ridiculous. As usual, Phelios opens the door with a flurry, and bows before his groupies of castle staff leave. When he finally sits down, I realize that I had come into the dining hall close to an hour before hand. __Keld does not look happy and I can't blame him in any way. Phelios chucks a total spaz at us if we eat without him, not including if we're snacking. Keld has been eating his meals when he was hungry for them ever since he became the royal family warden, which was close to 70 years ago. All of a sudden, he's got to wait because of one little annoyance. Phelios also won't let us eat if he isn't hungry so we end up snacking… a lot._

"My greetings are extended to both presences here within the hall for dining upon the delicious concoctions of the cooking staff!"

_Keld and I __just stare with _DI_ faces. He is so idiotic … no scratch that, he is so dumb! I cannot believe we have the same blood running through us! When we were kids he was no where near as annoying as he is now. Hell, when we were kids we often played our namesake! I would be the evil vampire and he the warrior king. He had a bit of a hard time, because St Phelios died protecting his family, and I am Phelios' brother so he got confused and ended up saying random stuff about 'La Gamme' that honest-to-goodness made me feel ill. Mother liked watching us play those games… I wonder why?_

_Breakfast eventually ended and Keld was about to read us our schedules when, once again, Phelios interrupted._

"Why, Sir Keld, must I partake within the classes of magic and history when Duzell himself has yet to attend a class? I feel that I, as the more learned of the two, should be able to take a break from such trivialities."

_Keld's response was awesome._

"Because '_sire_' (_you could hear him force it!_) Prince Duzell had completed every single section of his work several years ago. He only needs classes when some thing new has happened. You however have been skipping classes from day one; otherwise you would know that Prince Duzell had already completed the courses."

_I could feel the smile appear on my face just as Phelios' disappeared. For the entire day, the only class I had was fencing. I would have had military tactics but Keld teaches that, and after having seven more interruptions from Phelios, there was no way, he would be up to teaching it. _

_I had already finished the fencing course as well, but I continued because I enjoyed it. Okay, that's only half the truth … I enjoyed mother watching me. Mother was the one who watched me as I grew. Father watched too, and of course mother watched Phelios, but mother just seemed to give me extra attention… maybe that's why Phelios won't talk about her? Or maybe it's because he's angry that the younger prince got more from the sovereign? It would explain why he was (and still is) an attention seeker._

_I finished slicing my opponent (a scarecrow) into oblivion when I hear some one clapping. I can feel my face getting very red… one thing I got from my father is how easily I get embarrassed and how easily I embarrass myself. I slowly turned around, fully prepared for Phelios to be laughing at me. But when I turned around … I saw a small child clapping for me (it didn't make me any less embarrassed though … it increased) and wondered why a little kid was even here._

"Hey little one… what are you …" _I stopped myself from asking why the kid was here… no idea why I stopped but I did. _"Did you like my sword play?"

_The child started nodding and gave a huge smile… the smile reminded me of mother… but everything's been doing that lately._

_I ended up 'performing' for the child for a good half-hour. The child just sat close by in total awe. I think that that's just because so little fighting happens now that very few people even bother with swordplay… but it felt nice being watched by a smiling face._

"What's your name little one?"

"Nikki. What's yours?"

_That the child didn't know who I __was; made me feel a little odd. Ever since I could remember, children were being warned by their parents not to associate with me. The proof that I was evil was the very name my mother gave me. Why would this little girl have no idea who I was?_

"My name is Duzell, Little Nikki"

_Nikki smiled at me. I then realized that I had put 'little' in front of her name. __Within a half hour, this tiny child had endeared herself to me. It was the same feeling I got with mother… Little Nikki was some one precious to me._

_I returned to the castle after returning Little Nikki to the village. She said that her father was very sleepy, so worked at night, and that was how she could find him. I didn't want to leave her by herself but she said that she would be fine and she would be alright. I didn't want to leave, but I didn't want to make her feel angry at me, so I eventually gave in and let her go alone.__ As she ran past the houses, her form was engulfed by shadows, until even her silhouette disappeared. Back at the castle Phelios was going off his nut at me because I had disappeared. He was only doing it for appearance, acting as the worried big brother. As soon as everyone was gone, the act would drop and he'd yell at me for making him have to do that. I could have killed him so many times now … mother would be proud that I have kept my promise for so long. Phelios was about to start another rant when Keld came into the room._

"If everyone aside from the King and prince would, please, leave the room? I have some thing of the utmost importance to tell them."

_Keld was__ holding two packages. Once everyone had left, he handed one to each of us._

"I came across these a little while ago… I felt that they should go to you two."

_Phelios ripped open his package and held its contents in front of him. It was a dougen doll _**(yeah, totally ripped from princess Ai)** _and he just stared at it … almost in horror. Totally amusing! The dougen, which is like a bigger version of a dog that was possibly going to be introduced as guard dogs in the castle, had belonged to Father … he stared at it the same way when mother got it for him for his birthday, but he had soon fallen in love with it and kept it safe. While thinking about why father and been horrified, I opened my own package, and then nearly burst out laughing._

_The kyawl doll._

_Mother kept that after all these years? Damn she was such a pack rat! Phelios starts ranting at Keld, so I interrupt._

"Thank you Sir Keld. I'm going to put it in my room right now!" _I'm still laughing and Phelios is just staring at me in confusion. He would never get it … he just can't remember what I remember … but he will probably remember soon enough. I put the Kyawl doll on my window sill and look outside … in a few weeks, the moon will be full._

_Little Nikki has been coming around the castle to play for nearly a week now. She told me that she is an only child and her mother died years ago, and because her father is an insomniac, she gets lonely… when I asked if she wanted to play with me, she gave me a smile that would put the sun's brilliance to shame. She is so adorable. Little Nikki is not even half my height, and she has the most beautiful white hair. Her eyes are the palest blue, which could almost be mistaken for silver when she laughs. Little Nikki is always smiling at me and she loves to be cuddled … I have found myself cuddling her just for the sake of! But Little Nikki loves getting cuddles … and I love giving her cuddles … just because when I do, Little Nikki smiles._

_I found out that it was her birthday soon … so I asked her to meet me at the fencing grounds. When she arrived she looked confused._

"Duzell? What's up?"

_I find myself smiling simply because she has no idea_

"You told me that your turning ten tomorrow, Little Nikki, so I got something for you."

_She stares in total surprise when I hand her the parcel … it took me a long t__ime to decide what to give the little girl who makes me smile so easily…_

"It's … so cute!"

_Little Nikki starts dancing, holding her present to her chest as she spins around the area. Her smile is so __big; it looks like it is attached to her ears. I find myself smiling too, simply because she loves it so much. I made the right choice._

_It was hard to bring myself to part with it, but seeing Little Nikki's smile made me glad to give her my Kyawl doll…_

_I surprise Little Nikki by picking her up in a sudden hug, and she starts squealing with laughter … she is just too damn cute! _

_We spent__ the entire day laughing, and playing about. When we got hungry I brought out the surprise I had the chef made … two small cakes. The one for Little Nikki was strawberry cream cake, with chocolate flakes scattered over it, and the other (mine) was a peach bramble cream cake with chocolate scattered over it, with extra whipped cream! I was surprised that Little Nikki was equally fascinated with my cake as with hers, so I cut them in half and sang happy birthday to her … I ended up embarrassing myself again … Little Nikki was amazed but I always get embarrassed by my voice when I sing … apparently it sounds like Uncle Laphiji's when he sings … but I have never heard him sing so I don't know if that's a compliment…_

_The day ended way too quickly, and I released Little Nikki to the village … as she ran into the darkness I suddenly thought what would happen to her if her father died. She would be all alone … how sad_

_I entered the castle just before the time Phelios would start a rant for me being late, and hurried to my room. I had some cake left over, and wanted to eat it by myself instead of risking sharing it with Phelios … it was MY damn cake! As I closed the door to my room, I heard Phelios coming around the corner, about to enter my room to see if I was in … an evil thought, entered my mind, and after hiding the cake, I got prepared for him._

_The door handle turned and the door slowly opened. Phelios entered the room and then…_

"May I help you?"

"Who are you? Where is Prince Duzell?"

"Oh, he said he'd be back after getting you… my … you are an attractive beast … want to come here and let me give you a nice relaxing massage… honey?"

_Phelios left the room screaming … I __LOVE transformation spells! Yeah, Keld will get pissed at me for it later, but it is always SO worth it!_

_As I had undone my transformation, and was lying on the floor laughing so hard I thought my lungs would burst, Keld himself came in; a stern look on his face. Once he saw me laughing on the ground, his scowl disappeared and he started laughing too; he guessed what had happened and actually congratulated me on the joke! Lately, things have being going so well, I'm afraid that it's just a dream and that any second I will wake up and be unable to laugh with the old man._

_I convince Keld (without much difficulty) to pretend that the female form I had taken had run out in fear when he arrived (I had been very sneaky and had been lying on my bed with barely a stitch on me) and Keld came up with the idea that she was a random maid that had snuck into my room. We were still laughing when I retrieved my deliciously yummy cake and gave a bit to Keld. He took the offering with surprise but ate it gladly … Phelios was being picky again thanks to my joke, and was refusing to let anyone eat. Later we would probably get the maids to secret us something without alerting Phelios… the prank was worth it though. Keld told me that his face was void of any colour and he looked like he was about to puke. _

_After eating the food the maids snuck out of the kitchen for me (after getting an earful from Phelios about the scandalous, clandestine meeting of some unknown woman in my room) I wandered over to my window and found myself humming a tune … it was midnight, and the tune was 'happy birthday'._

_I didn't see Little Nikki the next day, but I wasn't too surprised. It was her birthday and her father probably made a special effort to be up so he could celebrate with her. The day was long and dull … aside from transforming to look like the woman from last night once just to creep out Phelios, but even that didn't cheer me up for long… I wanted to play with Little Nikki…_

_The night finally came, and as luck would have it (bad luck that is) we had visitors. Some crazy diplomat from Razenia and an entourage of minions that looked like they were born either simply to annoy me, or to be target practice … I decided on both, but when I asked Keld he said not now, even though it looked like he could use it too… but not now means later so I perked up a bit. Just as crazy diplomat shut his noise hole … ahem, his mouth, a window in the reception hall shattered. Every one was surprised but nothing happened … so we all relaxed … some of the windows are so old they shatter from pure age. Just as Phelios was about to continue, however, the world suddenly stopped … it was weird. Everyone just stopped moving._

_Suddenly, I saw something coming through the broken window… it was an arrow! Worse, it was being aimed at Phelios … much as I hate his guts, Phelios is my brother … I AM GOING TO BE THE ONE THAT KILLS HIM DAMMIT!_

_I started running. The arrow was moving normally, but no one else was … I had to run to reach Phelios in time … I didn't quite make it. _

_The arrow missed Phelios … but it didn't miss me._

_I don't remember much about what happened next … though I remember some deep voice saying "who knew that the corrupter would be able to save the king? That is rather impressive … though you shan't live through the night with that wound…" there was more, but I could no longer hear it… my world had suddenly turned black like the darkness that swallowed Little Nikki._

_I woke up about two hours later. The healers were really surprised that the arrow didn't instantly kill me._

"It's a good thing you had that amulet on"

"Amulet? … You don't mean the one mother gave me?"

_I was horrified. I had always taken such good care of my amulet … how could I have let it get damaged?_

"Calm yourself, prince Duzell. Yes it was the amulet your mother gave you, and yes it has been broken, but instead of thinking like that, think that your departed mothers soul protected you from danger."

_Keld was speaking calmly but I could see the vein on his neck beating hard… he was just as upset as I was__, but he keeps it under wraps well. Mother was protecting me huh? Makes sense that even after she has died Mother is my protector. Once he finished talking, he hands me the amulet… it was split clean in half so Keld got a second chain for one half… I just thanked him when the door opened … after about twenty minutes of Phelios switching between thanking me for saving his life, yelling at me for putting myself in danger, and being confused at how I had been able to move fast enough to stop the arrow in the first place, Keld made him be quiet and then turned to me with worry in his face._

"The man who attacked … he called you the corrupter … and as he left … he threw this to the ground in front of you…"

_I look at what Keld held in his hands and I can feel panic rise from my gut … the kyawl doll._

_Little Nikki!_

_I jumped up and started running for the door just as one of the healers grabbed me._

"What do you think your doing Prince Duzell? You are in no condition to be running around! The arrow didn't kill you but your recklessness will!"

_I found myself turning and punching the healer away, before leaving the room in a heavy sprint__. Phelios yells after me and without realizing, I yell back._

"If I wait, Little Nikki is going to die!"

_I didn't hear Phelios' response…_

_I reach the village quickly and despite the hole in my chest aching, I know that I must find Little Nikki before it's too late. The man who shot at Phelios must have been Little Nikki's father … how else would he have gotten the kyawl doll? I gave that to Little Nikki just yesterday_

_My breath was becoming heavy. Every step drained me of more and more of my strength … unless I found Little Nikki soon, I wouldn't even be able to save her… I would be useless._

_I feel my bones shake as I fall against a wall coughing … I look at my hand and know I don't have much time left … blood drips from my fingers…_

_My head is spinning, and my body feels like lead … but I force myself to keep walking … even if it is just by dumb luck, I am going to save Little Nikki … I need to …she needs me, right now! _

_I fall to my knees and let the blood drain from my __oesophagus… it is disgusting … how could this have been my diet as a vampire? Or maybe it was just my own blood that I found repulsive? Why am I even thinking about this now?_

_I force myself to rise to my feet… it takes so much will power to do it… and I start to move forward again … I know I'm close now …Little Nikki said her father was a night worker … and he figures that I must be dead, so he wouldn't bother covering his tracks … more blood spew's from my mouth … _

_He thinks that I'm done and dusted so he would go back to his home unfazed … the only house with it's light on so late at night … Little Nikki's home._

_I push forward … I am so close … I can see the house right now … and I can hear sobbing coming from an open window. Sneaking up to the house I look through the window and see Little Nikki crying as she speaks through the door._

"Please… daddy, please … give it back to me … its mine daddy … he gave it to me …"

_I'm about to get her attention when a deep voice speaks through the door._

"The corruptor is gone Nikola… I won't have you be tainted by him any more. I will cleanse the taint from you shortly… you won't have to worry any more…"

_Little Nikki starts crying again, and I feel myself wanting to throw her father to the ground, not because of my wounds, but because I know … I know, that he is about to kill Little Nikki. I feel anger and worry mix in my gut so much it makes me want to puke … no wait … no that's just the blood that I keep spitting out. I wipe my mouth and whistle softly to alert Little Nikki. She does turn around to the sound, but she can see the finger over my mouth telling her to be silent._

_Slowly creeping over to the window, which is too high up for her to get out of, Little Nikki looks at me confusingly when she sees me floating in the air … I whisper to her _

"It's magic, Little Nikki"

_And she comes slowly, and trustingly into my arms … as I slowly descend to the ground, we both hear the door to Little Nikki's room open and a deep voice react in surprise. We reach the ground and start running just as Little Nikki's father reaches the window… I smile to myself as he sees me running …to him, I should kinda be dead or bleeding close to it in the castle … _

_Little Nikki and I keep running … the town is totally dead, and very dark, so we have a slight advantage over Little Nikki's father … all I need is thirty seconds of concentration to transport us to the castle… but it seems that I can't even get that …_

_I feel the force in my lungs first, before I'm propelled away from the kick … in one instant I'm separated from Little Nikki, and she is once again in danger … blood fills my mouth and it doesn't appear to stop… I curse my weakness … Little Nikki's father can use magic, so why would he be unable to use a location spell? I force myself to stand and once again move forward … He is surprised but continues his assault on me … more and more blood spills from me, and the wound in my chest has reopened … my white shirt is no-longer white, and my black hair attaches itself to any and all moisture on me … Little Nikki is crying again … she is so scared and I know that she has no idea of what to do … I need to save her … I need to protect Little Nikki, from the man who she should have protecting her …_

_Little Nikki's father suddenly stops, summons a sword, and then lunges towards Little Nikki … even though I can barely feel my heart beat … I run to intercept … and for the second time tonight … take the blow, for another …_

Sighs. Is a cliffy.

_I wake up with enough pain in my head to be mistaken with an elephant that has spent the last year and a half ramming its head into a cliff face …_

_I should be dead … I had a summoned sword rammed right through me … so what happened?_

_I try to sit up, but am unable to do so … _

"Because of the lousy Son of a b!%*# lying on me!"

_Phelios wakes with a jump … he deserved it, falling asleep on me like that … I have actually reserved all my profanities for him … it makes me feel better. I manage to get up despite Phelios pretending to be worried about me and actually find the strength to punch him in the gut … I find one of my hands on my stomach and find little trace of my wounds … which doesn't make sense seeing as our healers are crap all at their jobs… Phelios manages to get to his feet and continues with the act when Keld walks in_

"Prince Duzell! It is good to see that you have regained consciousness … your mother really knew what she was talking about when she named you … you keep coming back … nothing we can think of can kill you!"

_Aside from the La Gamme spell… but then again, Keld doesn't know about the whole reincarnation business so I'll refrain from telling him that … I'm about to ask him about my wounds when I hear a little voice_

"Duzell!"

_Little Nikki runs past Keld and jumps right onto my bed to give me a hug … even though I should be taking more care with my wound, I hug Little Nikki back just as hard as she is hugging me … Phelios freaks, and pretends to be worried about my wounds … the act is starting to get on my nerves … and I know it's an act … he hasn't once said my name, so he is posing should anyone notice … I push those thoughts from my head and turn my attention back to Little Nikki._

"Are you okay, Little Nikki? That must have been quite a scare… what with your father acting like that"

_Little Nikki looks at me with her beautiful blue eyes and starts crying. I immediately regret what I said and start trying to comfort her when she looks up at me again and speaks_

"He hurt you … he hurt you bad … but even then you came to help me … how could a daddy act like that? How? Daddies are supposed to be nice and kind and caring… but as soon as I told daddy about you, and showed him the kitty you gave me … he went really mean … and he locked me in the room and no matter how much I said sorry, or cried, or asked him, he wouldn't let me out … he took the kitty too and said that he was going to get rid of the corrupter …and he hurt you!"

_Little Nikki starts bawling, and all I can do is hold her tightly as she lets her tears fall… I again curse my weakness … I couldn't really protect her when it was needed … I was pathetically weak and let her feel sad and scared … as I hold her, Little Nikki curls her self to be held only by my arms, like how one would hold a baby, and falls to sleep gently clinging to my hair … I look up from her to Keld and Phelios … Phelios looks confused and seems to think that Little Nikki is some sort of disease because he is keeping his distance. Keld has a gentle smile on his face and slowly comes to my side._

"When we arrived last night … there was a gentle aura around you that prevented you from dying … again I think it was your mother … when the man who was trying to stab you saw us … he tried to attack us, but when the soldiers proved too effective for him … he took his own life."

_Yeah. That's not the best thing to hear when you regain consciousness … and worse … Little Nikki was now alone. How could the world be so cruel to such a tiny angel? Once again I find my gaze focused on the tiny figure asleep in my arms … and how much light she has given me … how can I give light back to her? As I was thinking this Keld started talking again_

"We did some looking up on her … her mother was killed by her father … His name was Kan, and he was actually a serial killer … he would have killed the little one eventually any way … but your becoming her friend put her sudden disappearance under threat of going noticed … he panicked and decided to get rid of her sooner…"

_How could he want to kill this little angel?_

"She will need a new home … with a family she can trust but she never mentioned other friends or family except for you prince Duzell … if you were to consider it …"

_I look at Keld and I think he saw the hope in my eyes_

"She could become your adopted daughter?"

_Phelios starts blathering that the people will never accept that the Prince has a child without a mother, or even being married (single parents after a parent has died are more accepted apparently) and is forbidding it from happening, so I speak up_

"I would love to…" _Phelios is struck silent and his left eyebrow is doing this twitchy thing that happens whenever he is angry_ "But it depends on Little Nikki … if she wants to become family here, problem solved, but if she does not then we will need to find another solution"

_Keld thinks about what I have said, and then nods his head in agreement. Phelios is about to rant again when Keld pulls him out and says that we (Little Nikki and I) need more sleep._

_Once the door closes, I gently spread Little Nikki out on the bed, and pull the blanket over her, as I too re-enter sleep_

**Duzzie is NOT a pedo, got it?**

_I woke up several hours later … and found that I was alone … I panicked … where was Little Nikki? I get out of bed, slowly because every muscle and joint is swearing at me, and it kills. Little Nikki is a smart girl … she would know who to trust within the immediate castle staff, my brother (more or less) and of course she would know to trust Keld … I've told her about Keld … while he is all for the rules, he is pretty relaxed and he knows what Little Nikki has been through so he would definitely protect her … but WHERE had she gone? I asked the first maid I came across if she had seen Little Nikki_

_Every little thing that happens within this castle is known to every single member of the staff by the end of the hour, so it was impossible that no one would know of Little Nikki… the maid did know of her and shyly told me that she had seen her wandering around the palace gardens about twenty minutes ago._

_I thanked the maid and headed to the garden, before going back to my room and changing into some proper clothes … I had been asleep in just some pants, no shirt … no wonder the maid had been shy …_

_After donning some fresh clothes, I once again headed to the garden and was relieved to find Little Nikki dozing under the rose trees (well they are actually bushes but the way the palace gardener grew them they look more like trees)_

_I gently rouse Little Nikki from her slumber and tell her it's time for breakfast… she just raises her arms in a signal to be carried and I comply. Gently hoisting her into my arms, I make my way to the dining hall. For once, Phelios is there before me, and despite his surly attitude to the otherwise, is eating his food … he is such a damn jerk_

_Keld helps me prepare a spot for Little Nikki and the maids bring in some fruit, some eggs and bacon, warm milk and other yummy smelling things that actually encouraged Little Nikki to wake up. Why they never prepare that sort of food for the rest of us I'll never know._

_After breakfast, Keld, Phelios, Little Nikki and I gather in the drawing room … it is time to ask Little Nikki … Keld is the one to do the actual asking her the question but I'm right next to her, and I find myself gently smiling_

… _But Little Nikki said no … _

_I was surprised by this … she said she was afraid that bad things would happen again and she didn't want any one getting hurt … Little Nikki was taking all the blame …_

_Keld manages to convince Little Nikki to spend the rest of the day with us … the maid Mimi, appears and Little Nikki goes with her to get some new clothes, as her current are not very clean. Once Little Nikki has left the room, Keld speaks_

"As you said Prince Duzell … we must find another solution … but just enjoy today"

_I try to but I can't … what Little Nikki said troubles me … and not just because I want her to be part of my family … when she was asked … she looked scared … as if answering yes would cause bad things to happen… I find her later in the day, again in the garden… I talk to her … just the two of us_

"Little Nikki, is everything alright?"

"W-what, do you m-mean?"

_Yeah … she is scared of something_

"When we asked you this morning whether you wanted to become my daughter … you looked scared… did some thing happen?"

_Little Nikki is not very good at hiding her emotions … I can see panic, and worry all over her face_

"I would love for you to become my daughter Little Nikki … and you know that I would never lie to you or hurt you … don't you?"

_Little Nikki looks pained when I slightly said that she thinks I would hurt her … but she just repeats her reasons from before … except at the end_

"… and you'll get in trouble and …"

"What do you mean I'll get in trouble?"

_Little Nikki realizes that she's let that slip but, she is very honest and decided to tell me the truth_

"He said that if I were your daughter, the people from the village would get mad and try to hurt you … that you would never be accepted for a possible role as the king, that you would get sad and stop smiling … I don't want to make that happen!"

_SHE IS SOO DAMN CUTE! But something else concerns me more_

"Who said that?"

"Your brother …"

_I make a mental note to kill Phelios_

"Little Nikki, you don't have to worry …"

"But Phelios said you'd get hurt!"

_I stifle a smile when I notice that Little Nikki doesn't bother calling Phelios 'King'_

"Little Nikki, listen to me, not Phelios, not Keld, just me… I love you … I love you very much … whenever your sad, I'm sad … whenever you smile, I smile … whenever you're hurting, I hurt too … that is all because I love you Little Nikki … when I found out that you and I could become family, that you could become my daughter, I was really happy … and I thought that you would be happy too … maybe I was wrong about that…"

_Little Nikki looks sad when I say that but I keep talking_

"But I don't think I was … Little Nikki, Phelios doesn't want you to be my daughter, but stuff him!"

_Little Nikki giggles_

"If the people don't want you to be my daughter, I'll explain to them, and if they still aren't happy, I'll renounce my claim to the throne …"

_Little Nikki looks at me in surprise because the throne is not some thing a lot of people pass up_

"I would do any thing to keep you safe, Little Nikki, and that goes double for if you were my daughter … I don't care what may be said about me, I don't care if people make comments to my face … if Little Nikki, were my Little Nikki, I would be able to handle anything that came my way"

_Little Nikki has actually started crying, but she is looking at me with her beautiful blue eyes_

"Would you really be …?"

"Hmm?"

"Would you really be able to handle anything?"

"If you were my Little Nikki, then yes I could …"

_Little Nikki runs up to me and gives me a great big hug_

"Then your not Duzell … you're Little Nikki's Daddy!"

End of the chapter! Is very long and lots of not talking until the end … did you like/hate? How/why? Thankyou/leave me alone I tried okay?

Fare thee well, I shall see thee upon my return with next chapter.


	4. Relatives, within the Flames

**Is the updation!**

_Keld was delighted when we told him that my Little Nikki decided to become my daughter… he agreed that Phelios was just jealous but it didn't make my Little Nikki feel much better until we played a prank on him … Transformation spells … you gotta love 'em!_

_I became the unknown woman from before, and I transformed my Little Nikki into a tiny little baby boy that looked identical to Phelios aside from slightly darker hair… I pretended to be convinced that the baby was Phelios' from a one night stand many months ago (which creeped him out to no end because I implied he had slept with a vagabond_**: D**_) and that by right this woman should become queen. _

_Phelios actually fainted and the transformation spells were undone by my Little Nikki and me laughing so hard … so worth it though …_

_We managed to convince Phelios that we could keep the woman away if the proper ceremony for my Little Nikki to become a family member was held … he agreed in the end._

_The ceremony was beautiful. My Little Nikki had been dressed in the purest white gown that was embroidered with the sweetest little yellow, pink and blue roses, all attached together with green vines. My Little Nikki's white hair has been captured and put into a low ponytail, decorated with a rose bouquet matching her dress … her adorableness knows no bounds!_

_I had also dressed up for the occasion … I rarely dress up and so have no idea if I actually look foolish or not. I was wearing a black suit, which has embossed golden dragons climbing my lower arms, and a golden dragon at rest upon my back … I actually cleaned my hair for once, and had it snagged down with a matching Golden Dragon clasp that was actually mothers … you can't tell though because mother only wore it with a high pony tail, and my pony tail was sitting at the nape of my neck… Keld also insisted that I wear a gold band around my fore head and I gave in simply because I didn't feel like fighting._

_The ceremony involves a small speech from the present king, and then my Little Nikki must come out of hiding and come to my side as I kneel … the ceremony went smoothly and everyone fell in love with my Little Nikki so much that after the ceremony I practically had to spirit her away so that no one would try to steal her from me._

_After we had talked, that time in the garden … I gave my Little Nikki half of the split amulet … I told her that the amulet was what had protected me from Kan's arrow and sword, and I wanted her to have some of the luck I had … even during the ceremony, my Little Nikki was wearing it around her neck and had actually gotten into a small fight with the fitter about having it on … My Little Nikki won!_

_My Little Nikki is so precious … as soon as I spirited us away from several relatives, and even more villagers, she gave me the biggest hug and whispered me a promise … no matter how scary things get, no matter how much she may want to cry or run away … my Little Nikki promised that she will always come to me … that she will always come to her daddy._

**Little Nikki is mine! She is my own original character and she is mine!**

_The morning after the ceremony, I wake up early, and find my Little Nikki in my bed with me … I gently tickle her awake, and once she has fully woken up, I suggest that we sneak some food out of the kitchen and go play in the field behind the village … it should be full of flowers by now … My Little Nikki jumps up and gives me a hug, telling me that she would love to go. After getting dressed in very simple clothes, we steal food and escape the castle walls. _

_The field is beautiful … mother told me that no matter how many times she came here to hide out, it still took forever for father to find her … My Little Nikki falls in love with the field and we spend the whole day just playing before anyone even notices we're gone! I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not but we had and entire day undisturbed and re-entered the castle at night._

_Wait … yeah forget that unnoticed comment … Phelios is freaking … I hate how he keeps yelling at my Little Nikki … so I punch him … several times … then claim that three of them were accidental and run away with my Little Nikki …Phelios gives chase, but I have always been in better shape then him … I guess I got it from mother and her needing to run from murdering relatives … it makes sense_

_My Little Nikki loves the castle, especially when I show her some great hiding spots; for instance, behind a great tapestry that hangs off the northern wall in the reception hall, there is a tunnel … supposedly built for servants to wander about unnoticed, but obviously not used for that purpose now, it makes a great escape during trouble, for instance if you are in the reception hall and someone attacks, use the confusion to jump behind and run. It leads to the shed in the garden or to the kitchen pantry … one of my favourite escapes and my Little Nikki loves it too._

_Another hideaway is behind the third suit of armour lined up on the right hand side in the library … another tunnel originally but the escape route has been blocked of by a fallen roof beam… this is good for simply hiding if you were to get caught in the library … only the small, or the nimble can get inside it … we tested and found that both my Little Nikki and I could fit inside at the same time._

_The last good hiding place I show my Little Nikki is actually in my room. Next to the window there is a huge, beautiful mural on the wall and if you hit the button hidden on it (it took me three months to come across this so it is a super save place) the wall opens and a staircase is revealed! The staircase seems to go on forever because of some ancient curse (I mean, jeez! I once, honest to goodness, spent three hours climbing down before I got pissed off and climbed back up … which took me twenty seconds!) My Little Nikki asks if we could try to reach the bottom … honestly, I didn't want too but … HOW CAN I DENY MY LITTLE NIKKI? _

_We slowly begin to descend and my Little Nikki attaches herself to my hand … it is dark in the passageway, and my Little Nikki has had enough bad things happen to her during the moonlit hours … I cast a simple fire spell, which creates a small flame at the end of my finger, and it lights up the area. My Little Nikki stares in awe … she has never really been exposed to magic, so I have been using a few spells around her to get her used to the idea of it … Keld wants to put her on a crash course magic seminar … __NOT__ happening!_

_We go further and further down, and we seem to be going nowhere … I can tell that my Little Nikki is getting hungry … I am too and my stomach is doing that thing where it feels like it's sticking to your spine … not pleasant but I'm able to keep from complaining … out loud any way …My Little Nikki slips on the stairs and I slide to catch her … I do catch her but keep sliding … note to self; if you ever made secret passageways in a castle, make sure that the steps in said passageways are not stone cause they hurt … or just don't put stairs in a secret passageway … that would work too._

_We eventually stop moving … and I think I may have broken another two or three of my ribs … yeah it hurts, but I'm glad I was able to protect my Little Nikki … she is in my arms, shaking from the sudden adventure and it takes a few minutes for her to calm down … what is the plural for adorableness? I ask because whatever it is must apply to my Little Nikki … she is super adorable when she is scared and she is totally adorable when she is calm … so what should I call that?_

_We stand up and I light another spell, when we realize that we aren't on the stairs … when the __*#%__ did that happen? The ground is solid … well I say solid but it is made of dirt so, yeah … and I can see a tunnel in front of us … My Little Nikki and I follow it, and find ourselves at a door … creepy … I find the little catch that will open the door, and it swings open … a burst of wind flings itself at us, and blows out my flame … My Little Nikki clings to my hand even tighter, and I feel my heart rate increase …dammit …this is getting dangerous and I brought my Little Nikki into this danger … but all we can really do is keep going forward …I cast a small glow spell … these aren't really effective but it won't be put out by the draught … we step slowly into the open room in front of us …_

**Cliffy?**

_The room was cold, but that was just because it was made of stone and was deep underground. The breeze was coming through another door, but that wasn't the biggest concern … My Little Nikki was shivering, but it wasn't because of the cold … my stomach stopped sticking to my spine, and instead fell to the floor …in the middle of the room, covered in dust and decay … was a corpse _

_My Little Nikki started shaking and I picked her up and held her head away from the spectacle … I didn't want to see it either, but it was nearly impossible to look away … just like the great sage image, mounted for eternity over the mantle … dressed in white and gold, with the Sword named Sidia, held strong and proud … trapped for over 128 years in a room of stone and dust … was the cursed corpse, trapped forever by an even more cursed spell, of Saint Phelios_

**=3 this is RAWR! RAWR! Lives another day! Do not deny the invasion!**

_I fell to my knees but did not fall further … My Little Nikki was still shaking and it took all of my will power not to throw up … all the stories, all the histories, all that I have heard and been told about the battle of night and day ( and my vampiric memories)… all of them say that the battle took place in the field dead between the two territories of Man and the Nosferatu … but here, sealed to the ground by broken legs melted by spells … was the warrior king of my new heritage … they didn't bury him … they did not bury the only one who risked his all to save them … his people, his followers and men, left him on the field of battle … and built a castle over him! Even my past nature is disgusted by this … when a vampire fell in battle, even if it were just one of my dolls, I had the dignity to burn them away … yes at the time it was just to avoid their corpses getting in the way, but I did not leave them! Hell, more than often, my followers were the ones to abandon me … even my relative, Diaage betrayed me! And she struck one heck of a blow, to my ego, and to my soul when she agreed to become a weapon … I wish I knew what I did that pissed her off enough to do that … _

_I try to tear my gaze from the figure in front of me and turn my attention to my beloved daughter who has not let go of me since I picked her up … this must be scarring to a ten year old child …Hell I'm 23 and I'm fighting the urge to puke!_

_I force myself to stand … even harder to do than when I was wounded … I slowly back away from the figure and exit from where we came in … I would rather the 3 hour stair climb than this … I close the door behind me and begin running up the stairs before me … luckily twenty seconds later I am back in my room … My Little Nikki is holding on to me tightly … and who can blame her … I close the mural and leave my room, still holding on to my Little Nikki just as tightly as she holds on to me._

_We ran to the garden and just stayed under the rose trees (bush) until night fell, and even then we stayed under the protection of the roses …both Keld and Phelios came out to see what was wrong and I told them what we had seen_

"B-b-but that's … impossible! Th-they buried Saint Phelios in the royal sanctuary of his mother's castle before it was destroyed by the civil unrest! It has been clearly documented!"

_I lower my head and look at my Little Nikki, who fell asleep around an hour ago … her nightmares have ceased for the moment and she has a calm face as she rests._

"It's true, sir Keld … I'd know it any where … not only was it the perfect image over the mantle, but in Phelios' face itself … mother always said she knew what she was talking about when she named him that!"

"Why did she name you Phelios then? In all the representations of him, The Vampire King had silver hair, and red eyes, not to mention that he is said to have been pale"

_Phelios' description hardly comes close to how awesome my previous self has looked, but mere words can never do true justice in this world … I can't accurately describe how precious and adorable my Darling Little Nikki is, but I don't tell that to Keld or Phelios_

_Keld and Phelios are just looking at me in sheer disbelief, so I focus my attention on the little angel asleep on my lap … her tiny little stomach growls and she wakes up … she rubs her eyes and yawns without once leaving my lap … she is so adorable … Keld hears the growling, and leaves, but Phelios stays, watching my Little Nikki … I started thinking he might be into underage girls but I removed that thought with one that decided that if he came close to my Little Nikki with that in mind I would not restrain my fury … Keld returns with sausages, hash, and a creamy potato salad for my Little Nikki and me._

"When you are done, the chef has made scones with strawberry jam, heaped with triple whipped cream and hot fudge chocolate sauce"

_My Little Nikki and I started drooling … my stomach starts doing that fuzzy thing of pure want… and it looks like Phelios didn't get the awesome as desert so he just stares at us in disbelief … again …_

_**LATERNESS**_

_My Little Nikki falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow on her bed. I smile and wipe the final bit of chocolate from her face … Keld says that in the morning, the grand mages will be sent to investigate, since when he asked my Little Nikki what had happened she started shaking and even ended up screaming until I held her to calm her down … I ended up glaring at Keld until he apologized and offered us chocolate covered strawberries of five types! White chocolate, milk chocolate, fondue chocolate, marble chocolate, and mint fondue chocolate! I actually had a thought of saying no cause I would get sick … glad I didn't listen to that voice of reason though … My Little Nikki loved it and started feeling a lot better … I smiled as she started wriggling under her blankets _

_She is just too damn CUUUUUUUUUUUUTE!_

_I end up watching my Little Nikki for a while until I end up yawning … if I was a vampire right now I would be able to stay awake to watch over my Little Nikki, but that sounds so much like a copy of Twilight that I immediately fall asleep on the floor leaning against my Little Nikki's bed. At least when I was a vampire I didn't sparkle!_

_The next morning eventually comes around … along with serious neck pains from sleeping at a bad angle and reacting strangely thanks to the damn nightmares caused by glow in the dark vampires … I manage to sit up properly, before I realize that there is a presence on my lap … I look down smiling and …scream in terror as the maid sleeps against my chest …_

_The maid wakes up and is heavily embarrassed and starts apologizing even louder than I screamed … My Little Nikki woke at my scream but when she saw the maid, pulled the blankets over her and started laughing …_

_Phelios and Keld ran in just as the maid started yelling 'it was inappropriate of me to touch you like that!' and all colour left their faces … My Little Nikki ended up laughing even harder and I thought that she wouldn't be able to last much longer_

_Keld gets the maid to leave (I'm not sure how) and my Little Nikki slowly stops laughing, though her face is quite red … I can feel my face as being quite red itself, and I feel it getting redder when Keld asks me what the maid was talking about … I explain how I fell asleep watching my Little Nikki and how when I woke up, the maid was asleep clinging to me … Phelios starts laughing until Keld smacks the back of his head (GIBBS STYLE!) Keld then says it's time for breakfast _

_After a super awesome yummy breakfast of … I'm not sure what (it tasted good at any rate) Keld says that I will need to go with the mages to search the room with the corpse in it … My Little Nikki suddenly has her breakfast back on her plate and it looks identical to before she ate it … that has me worried_

_I convince my Little Nikki to stay with Keld while I go down the staircase of pain (hence named after yesterday) and Keld tempts her to agree with chocolate mint flavoured creamed ice._

_The mages and I start going down the staircase after I activate the mural door to open … the mage Zadora immediately realizes that the stairs are cursed and casts an incantation to remove it … several of the mages join in and eventually, the curse lifts and I see that the stair case is … only ten damn stairs … I spent six bloody hours climbing down ten stairs … when I found whomever cursed them, I swear that I will make their grave shallow so the animals may feast upon the flesh of the idiot who thought to piss me off to such extremes!_

_Well, I may kick him first … I'll kick his filthy twisted ass so bloody hard that he'll have to sit on his bloody eyes!_

_As we traverse through the tunnel, the sick feeling re-enters my system and I end up walking more slowly to hopefully drive the feeling away … the door comes into sight and Zadora ends up being the one to enter it first … as the door opens, a fresh blast of cold air comes and again, the flame spell is done out, so several glow spells, much like the one I cast yesterday, are chanted … we enter the room and I can feel my energy leaving …the corpse is still there … the mages are all looking at it in horror … I actually can feel the sick rising through me … I make a hasty retreat to just outside, where I puke … so glad that didn't happen yesterday when I had my Little Nikki with me … that would have been nasty … I re-enter the room, and see that two of the mages have puked as well, and six others have collapsed … on closer inspection I see that four of them have fainted. The only mage that seems relatively un harmed is Zadora … I start asking him how when I feel the need to puke again and run back outside … I see the remains of my breakfast … it's identical to before I ate it! What the f*#! Did they feed us this morning? Yeah it tasted good but both my Little Nikki and I puked it up and it looked identical! What the hell! I once again enter the room … Zadora is casting a protective barrier around Saint Phelios, and as soon as I can't see it I felt a lot better … maybe it was because I was looking at a corpse that I threw up … but as a vampire king, the mightiest of the undead, and a guy who proclaimed war on the humans out of sheer boredom, this really shouldn't creep me out … it does but it shouldn't!_

_The other mages eventually get back up, albeit with very descriptive swears … and one case of casting a curse upon the 369__th__ descendent of the God that gave creation to the desire to expel the contents of one's stomach to be able to avoid terrible, terrible colic …I think he hates puking_

_As the mages start gathering, preparing to leave no doubt, I found myself in front of the other door … what was behind it? _

_I open the door slowly and hold my breath as the scent of death reaches me … even as a human, I recognise the scent of death, and let me tell you, it ain't nice!_

_Behind the door I see …_

**And the end of chapter four … occurs a little later on.**

"AAAAAGH!"

_I slam the door shut, and brace myself against it as the force pounds into it… the mages are staring at me confusedly_

"Hurry! Put a barrier up to stop this door from opening!"

_Zadora complies and the barrier is put in place_

_I fall to my knees, and try to steady myself … that room was full of vamps! What the f*#%&! HELL? My room, since I was three years old, has been on top of a damn vamp nest! I don't even want to know how the hell I haven't already been eaten! Zadora starts putting several extra barriers on top of the first one while a couple mages help me get back up …_

_When we have finally left the room, Zadora gets one of the mages to put a reverse curse on the staircase; you would no longer be able to climb up quickly but going down wouldn't take long … Keld and my Little Nikki were waiting, and I immediately ask if I can change rooms … Keld is confused but while my Little Nikki starts giving me comforting hugs, Zadora explains about the almost insignificant problem OF THERE BEING A BLOODY NEST OF VAMPIRES WITHIN THE HOLY PHELIOSTIAN CASTLE RIGHT UNDERNEATH THE CROWN PRINCE!_

_Keld understands why I want to change rooms._

_After I am in a completely different wing of the castle, we move my Little Nikki to be in the room next to mine … I don't want her near that area right now … Keld asks Zadora what he thinks we should do but I answer first_

"I think we should burn the place!"

"Prince Duzell! That is dangerous! What would we do if the rest of the castle started burning?"

"Like I give a damn about the castle right now! I have spent twenty years living, literally, on top of a vampirian flock! Unless you are forgetting Keld, Nosferatu bear no ill-will towards destroying for the sake of destroying!"

_Keld looks slightly startled at my outburst before he grasps the truth of what I'm saying … I am so damn lucky that I have not been eaten yet … and I am going to make sure that that luck will be transferred to the tiny gem in my arms_

"Daddy, why would vampires be next to Saint Phelios? They must have hated him lots, and not want to go any where near him, so why would they make a nest right next to him?"

_What my Little Nikki says makes sense, but vampires are also stupendously picky when it comes to nests … I was so picky that I took control of a tower and then cursed the area to make sure that it was always dark enough that all vampires would be able to walk around at all hours … but these vamps seemed quite different … quite flammable …maybe it had something to do with the fact that they were on fire even before I mentioned burning the place… I suddenly pay more attention to my thoughts … the vamps were already on fire … I swear under my breath so my Little Nikki won't hear and get Zadora's attention._

"We need to evacuate the castle… now!"

_He looks confused, not that I blame him or anything_

"Those weren't normal vamps … they're _Flammeus Nocturna_, and they are going to burst pretty soon"

_Zadora nods and immediately starts casting transportations spells, along with the rest of the mages and people started 'porting out to safer locations, Zadora had just 'ported Keld when the mural on the door burst open and the party threatened to start_

_Zadora was about to 'port my Little Nikki and me when one of the under mages panicked and "ported Zadora out first and then himself … I hate the newbie mages … they always freak out at the worst possible times…_

**DOOM BECKONS … ARE YOU LISTENING?**

_I run as hard as I can while carrying my Little Nikki… the vamps are after me, but they won't hesitate to go after the blood of an innocent … I won't allow them to turn my Little Nikki into a vamp … she still has so much life she can live and I don't want her to be forced into immortality!_

_The vamps are right behind me … I keep running hard_

_I end up running right to the armoury, and manage to shut the door behind me … that won't hold 'em for long but this room has the most charms, wards and legsarams in the castle … after all, this room holds Sidia …_

_I hide my Little Nikki in Sidia's holding cavern … it has a seal powerful enough to destroy a man with a touch … and I grab Sidia …the vamps break through the door, but freeze when they see Sidia … but they don't freeze for long … only blood members of the family can draw Sidia, and while I am currently a member, my soul is that of a vampire's so without knowing what will happen, I draw the blessed sword that once I cursed._

_I could actually draw it, and so I went straight for the vamps … no way would I risk letting them hurt my Little Nikki! The battle was gruesome as … it's one thing to cast spells and chants in a classroom when you can focus on what you're doing, but quite another when you are mid battle, have a cut on your left arm, and one seconds indecision literally means your life. It's weird … I have been through this for all three of my lives but for some reason, right now I'm freaking out … spells that I have been able to cast for years suddenly have left my head, and I'm drawing a total blank … and to think I made fun of mother and father when they had trouble during battles … father was a little luckier, because he couldn't use magic, but mother was a total peace maker! Spells and swords were not her forte! She was able to quench any and all social and civil unrest because she couldn't use might!_

_Then again … might, would probably be useful against the creeps trying to drink my precious bodily fluids … okay that sounded wrong …_

_I should've kept my mind on what I was doing … I received a heavy spell to the chest and am knocked to the ground, barely alive thanks to the sword in my hand… normally the vamps would pounce but for some reason they don't … I strain my ears to hear what they are saying_

"There was a child too … blood of children is so sweet on the taste and it doesn't keep for long … eat her now and save the prince for later and …"

_I didn't hear the rest and I didn't need to … they were now hunting my Little Nikki …I need to stop them! I need to protect my daughter!_

_The vamps are casting spells left, right and centre in a hope to draw her out… they are totally destroying the room (though I think that has more to do with the charms and stuff freaking them out) and I can see them getting closer and closer to the holding case where my Little Nikki is safe! I try to rise but I have no strength in my body at all!_

_Is this how my life ends? Unable to protect a loved one … If so, I will have failed twice in this life time …first my mother and now my daughter … I don't want to give up … I mustn't give up but how can anything I do be of use? The darkness begins to creep in _

_I have no memory of what happened next … Keld and Zadora (after giving the newbie mage an earful) told me that they teleported back to the castle when they found several walls missing, due to blight magna incantations, and rushed to the source for unknown reasons, to end up seeing the following, retold in their words;_

_**Zadora:**_ _We opened the door and found ourselves staring at six or seven Flammeus Nocturna … the beasts of night with the flame as their power … they saw us and looked like they were about to attack … I was ready for their spells, but for some reason they did not attack …_

_**Keld:**__ It was if they felt absolutely no threat from us … which is a compliment to you, Prince Duzell, since they spent so much time chasing (at that point I gave Keld a smack) sorry … they then turned away from us and started casting destruction spells, all over the place for some reason, before one hit you and you got a broken wrist … I have never seen a wrist bend in that direction it was really quite (I hit him again there) sorry_

_**Zadora:**__ They saw you get hit with the spell, and as you cried out, they seemed … stirred up … like they enjoyed hearing you cry out …one female then yelled that she laid claim to your body and (and this is where I hit Zadora cause I don't need to know that kind of crap!) my apologies … the female soon rejoined the destruction and shortly after, the case for Sidia got a pretty bad hit to the side_

_**My Little Nikki:**__ But I only got knocked uncon… inconci … out_

_**Keld:**__ She wasn't hurt but she was not is a good situation, as the vampires were right above her then … Zadora was about to provide a distraction while I would have grabbed the both of you … but suddenly there was a flash of light_

_**My Little Nikki: **__It even woke me up Daddy!_

_**Zadora:**__ The next thing I knew, the body of the alpha vampire was on the ground with a broken neck! I looked up, and what I saw had me shaking … it still frightens me! Holding young Nikola (punched him again) sorry… young __Nikki__, was a man with the longest hair, as silver as the moon, eyes the colour of darkest blood, and skin as white as the new fallen snow … the man standing there, was the Vampire King! _

_(I lurched forward with surprise and then had to wait for the rest of the story while the healer re-healed my chest wound)_

_**Keld:**__ There had been the telling that when The Vampire King returned, he would slaughter the members of the Pheliostian line … but he protected Princess Nikki … it may have been that he didn't know she was the princess but …_

_**My Little Nikki:**__ He knew! He said 'don't worry, little Pheliostian princess… you will be safe again soon' and his voice was really kind! It reminded me of when I first met Daddy!_

_**Zadora:**__ in any event we didn't know that and were a little freaked … until the Vampire King started slaying the Flammeus Nocturna … but then I got seriously freaked …_

_(I looked at them in confusion, waiting for them to explain and they did this twitchy thing that they do when they don't want to tell me something)_

_**Keld:**__ The Vampire King … had slain the vampires with Sidia …_

_(Yeah … that surprised me …)_

_**Zadora:**__ I looked to where you had been lying with Sidia, but you were gone! I alerted Keld as the Vampire King kept the other vamps at bay and we snuck to where you had been just to make sure that the female vamp hadn't moved you or something … but you were gone … one of the vamps suddenly started screaming something like 'no, no it can't possibly be true … the vampire king … you … the prince is …' but when we had looked, that particular vamp had just been killed …_

_**Keld:**__ once all the vamps were gone, the Vampire King came over to us … and handed us Princess Nikki … he said "Protect the Little one … she means more than anyone else to him … well, except Ishtar but that's a given really …how can any one truly hate Ishtar? Ah well, mortals always have confused me" then he sort of walked a few steps away and closed his eyes_

_**Zadora:**__ he started fading_

_**My Little Nikki:**__ he disappeared!_

_**Keld:**__ And in his stead, you appeared!_

_**Zadora:**__ before he completely disappeared though he said "make sure he doesn't die here ... if he did, Ishtar would never forgive me" _

_(And again I was surprised ... somehow I had transformed into my past self ... but I referred to myself as a completely separate identity ...maybe I did that to keep some ambiguity towards what was going on ... if so it worked.)_

_**Keld:**__ I was once told by your mothers tutor, and cousin, Yuujel, that vampire souls do not pass on ... they keep on being reincarnated over and over again in their deaths until they make a contract with a mortal woman to bear them as a child ... maybe in the vampire king's wanderings, he came across your mother during her life and watched her ... if we go with that line of thinking it is impossible to say that he would not endear himself to her, it's impossible to hate her unless you refuse to get to know her ... but maybe he felt that he should have been able to guard her in some way, and when he saw one of her sons in danger, the one that shares his name ... maybe he possessed you just long enough to grant you his immortal protection ... of course that is all just a wild guess on my part ..._

_(Have I ever told you that Keld has this annoying habit of being almost completely right about something and then he completely dismisses it as a wild guess? If I haven't, I just did)_

_**Zadora:**__ Either way we are all still alive and the castle has been cleared of any more vampires; I checked myself. In any event I think, Sir Keld , that it is time to leave prince Duzell and princess Nikola (and again with the me needing to punch him) sorry, princess __Nikki__, to rest as they have had quite a trying couple of days._

_With that, my Little Nikki and I were left alone in my new room in the southern wing of the castle ... I have no idea, even vaguely, as to how much damage to the castle the vampires made during the battle and the incantation fest they had after ... but as my Little Nikki yawns and snuggles up to me I find that I don't really care ... that is Phelios' line of work, not mine. My concern is being placed in my family ... as much as I hate Phelios, I won't let him die without a fight, and even more than that, I will gladly put my life on the line to protect my tiny daughter ... I met my Little Nikki close to half a year ago, and I can count on one finger how many times I have felt unhappy with her, and it was on her birthday, when I didn't get to play with her, but even more than that, I felt only the tiniest, tiniest bit of disappointment and it was more directed at myself for being so selfish then towards the little angel ... how many times Phelios has disappointed me would jam pack every single room and passageway in the Razenian castle... but I'll still protect the moron._

_As I slowly fall to sleep, I think again of how as the vampire king I spoke of mother ... wherever she is in the after life ... I hope she is at peace_

_My first thought when I woke up was "what the hell have I been drinking?"_

_My head was pounding, my throat was dry, and my limbs felt like they were made of lead ... not a pleasant feeling and is how my hangovers always start._

_As I try to sit up, a stabbing pain forces me back down on to the bed … I look to the source and see my Little Nikki has crawled over me during the night and is asleep on my chest wound … even though every nerve in my body is swearing at max volume at me, I can't bring myself to move my Little Nikki in case I wake her up … although her sleepy face is beyond words adorable …_

_Around an hour later, my Little Nikki stirs and wakes up … when she sees that I am already awake, she gets very embarrassed and starts apologizing for making me unable to get up…_

"Now, now, my Little Nikki … I didn't wake you up because I didn't want to disturb your sleep … I don't usually fall asleep until after midnight, and I can function through out the day perfectly … last night I fell asleep very early and got a lot of sleep, so I'll be fine. I wanted to make sure that you got enough sleep, okay sweetie?"

_My Little Nikki slightly blushes and then gives me a great big hug …So damn cute!_

_My Little Nikki does climb of me, so that I can sit up, but instead of really doing anything, we just sit and talk … not about the previous day but of what's going to be happening in the castle soon, such as (dah-dah-dah-daaaaaah) Phelios and my birthday._

_I only mentioned Phelios' birthday actually, but my Little Nikki squeals and starts making special plans_

"We'll go to the fencing ground, like we did with my birthday, and then we'll go play in the field where I'll give you your present from me, and then we'll come back for dinner (and cake: D) and where you'll get the rest of your presents and then we'll keep playing until it gets really dark and then we'll sneak into the kitchen for a midnight snack before we finally fall to sleep!"

_I'm almost a little afraid that she though of all of that in three seconds but I find myself laughing at the level of detail. We end up making the plans properly before we get up, and get dressed … we have relatives coming over today … for those of you who don't know, the royal Phelostian family has a tendency of trying to murder one another, it's lessened since Phelios and my birth, but say that to the suicide troops … seriously, those guys never give up!_

_My Little Nikki asks for my help choosing her outfit and I comply … apparently I got my fashion sense from mother ( I don't deny that, she always wore the most beautiful outfits) and that it is even more prominent than Uncle Seiliez's … which I'm not too sure is a compliment._

_I dress my beautiful daughter in a red silk dress, with translucent sleeves that end at her knuckles. She puts matching shoes on and I gently tie her hair back, and clasp it with a red rose lash. I adorn her left wrist with a tiny matching rose bracelet and on her right hand, I place a rose ring … she looks so adorable I'm tempted to gouge my eyes out so that I don't get blinded by her cuteness … I am extremely grateful that I didn't obey that thought. I would miss out on so much more cuteness_

_Once she is dressed, we go back to my room, so that I can get ready … normal procedure is actually to get dressed after breakfast but my Little Nikki and I are really strange eaters … even if we are fooling about (like on her birthday) we don't get a single crumb on us … it's kind of weird._

_I look into my wardrobe and start scratching my head … I have too many clothes, but not enough awesome clothes … I need more capes and suits that I wore in my last life, but I conjured those randomly without any thought as to how they looked … I can't remember what any of them looked like now … damn._

_I end up trying on several outfits before my Little Nikki says that she likes one._

_My out fit is a jet black, almost skin tight suit that flares at the ankles slightly. I have a gold dragon running up my left side before twisting across my back and lying it's head on my right shoulder. I am wearing my half of my amulet outside the high collar and am wearing gold cross earrings … as a side note I don't remember ever getting my ears pierced but they are … I am wearing one of my gold lilke rings on my right hand, on the same finger as my Little Nikki's rose ring, and have once again tied my hair into a low ponytail and fastened with the dragon clasp. _

_My Little Nikki says that I look incredibly cool, and that we'll both have to watch out for people trying to steal us._

_My Little Nikki was not wrong._

_The relatives arrived about half an hour after breakfast, and Phelios and Keld had barely dressed in their finery so my Little Nikki and I were the ones to greet them in the end ... and yeah several of our relatives started giving us these really creepy stares and several of the female relatives kept trying to pick up my Little Nikki, until she came to me to be picked up so our relatives would find it impossible to do so ... and for some reason or another, many male relatives kept looking at my outfit ... it was really creepy_

_It was after we got to the reception hall that I realized that all the creepy relatives were actually distant ones, not part of the main line, which explained why they were watching us closely ... if they were to become a spouse to anyone in the main line, they too would have a shot at the throne._

_The normal acting relatives and friends were as follows; _

_King Vord and Queen Falan of Razenia, with their 19 year old daughter Roxanne_

_Sir Ashley and Lady Leene of Zi Alda, with their 28 year old son Lejuuy (silent y)_

_Lord Seiliez and Lord Laphiji of La Naan, sharing the role until the councillors stop mourning for Lady Ramia (she stepped down from the throne and told the councillors that Seiliez and Laphiji could decide between them and naturally the councillors are acting like she has left this world)_

_And we had about fifty other relatives come that were acting like imbeciles._

_My Little Nikki and I had just reached our seats when Phelios and Keld arrived and apologize for making the family wait for them._

_Keld was wearing a long purple robe with silver trim, and a silver medallion with a purple jewel centre that he got from mother on his 71__st__ birthday ... he loves that medallion, and the entire thing made him seem about twenty years younger._

_Keld looked quite regal in his gear, but Phelios looked ... indescribable _

_Phelios understands the value of appearance. Normally this is a good thing, but Phelios shows off his knowledge all the time with everything he wears and today was the pinnacle of him proving it..._

_Phelios was wearing a white version of my suit without the dragon and flares and with a shorter collar. The entire thing was trimmed in gold, and he even had gold buttons. His short hair had been washed and fluffed, and he too wore earrings, though you could see that his were clip-ons. I was actually surprised to see Phelios wearing the amulet mother gave him, but it blended into his outfit so much, it was hard to see that it was there at all. If that weren't enough, he was wearing white boots with gold trim too!_

_Phelios knew how to look good, but he didn't know how to not over-do it. All the visitors stared in ... well ... awe I assume, while my Little Nikki and I shielded our eyes as he was standing in front of a window ... not pleasant_

_The introductions went relatively quickly (for once) and very soon, everyone was pretty much left to their own devices until lunch was called ... the only hitch being that our relatives were allowed to follow us pretty much anywhere unless we needed to use the bathroom ..._

_My Little Nikki and I ended up being with Uncle Vord and Aunt Falan, and Cousin Roxanne._

_Uncle Vord was wearing a Yellowy-brown shirt with white pants and shoes, and that was pretty much it. He has never been one to dress up too fancifully and he doesn't really need to attract attention to himself so he dresses pretty simply._

_Aunt Falan was wearing a white dress and had recently gotten her long hair cut into a bowl hair style so she looked quite different._

_It has been about eleven months since I last saw Cousin Roxanne, and obviously it wasn't enough time ... she was wearing a black body dress (it's a dress that is fitted for the bodice and upper thighs but then flares out until it hits the floor) and silver jewellery and had her long blond hair in a high pony tail. Whenever we end up in the same place, all Cousin Roxanne does is watch me ... she just seems to be memorising every single thing that I do ... and it's creepy_

_After lunch the groups were sort of switched around, and I heard Cousin Roxanne sulking that she wasn't able to follow me around anymore... this time my Little Nikki and I ended up with Uncle Seiliez and Uncle Laphiji _

_Uncle Laphiji was wearing a dark blue suit and a purple shawl thing (I don't know what it's called) draped over his shoulders ... it suited him_

_Uncle Seiliez was wearing a white suit like Phelios, but his was in better nick, and wasn't over done to the ends of the earth. The only accessories he had on were a gold medallion and a pair of earrings I know mother gave him ... they're the gold ones with purple jewels that hang a little from the ear... now Uncle Seiliez knew how to dress right, though he did keep complimenting my ensemble._

_I ended up letting Uncle Laphiji hold my Little Nikki for a while, something that only Keld has been allowed to do so far, and I only let Uncle Laphiji hold her because my Little Nikki wanted to pull a prank on him ... unfortunately he found the kick me sign before anyone got a chance, but he wasn't angry at my Little Nikki._

_About three hours before dinner, the groups swapped for the last time, and we were with Sir Ashley and Lady Leene and Sir Lejuuy_

_Sir Ashley wasn't wearing anything fancy at all, unless you count his normal armour and gear fancy._

_Lady Leene was wearing this gentle green dress that had long sleeves and a flowey skirt that really suited her. She was wearing her hair in her trademark pigtail things that don't really have a name, and had tied them with red rose clasps._

_Sir Lejuuy was wearing a gentle yellow suit like Uncle Seiliez and was wearing an amulet of some description around his neck ..._

_I have never gotten along well with Lejuuy ... he is four years my senior, but we are very different people (I mean I'm different from everybody, but with Lejuuy it's really extreme)_

_Maybe it's because he is so damn full of himself ... he is always bragging about how he has, to date, 64 girlfriends, 32 friends, and ... 17 boyfriends ... weirdo_

_Dinner finally rolled around and after Keld finished explaining why some walls were missing (he said that there had been an attack but everything was alright now) we all had a very nice meal ... aside from Cousin Roxanne throwing a fit until she could sit next to me, and Sir Lejuuy flirting with every single maid that passed (as a side note, none of the maids even remotely looked interested in him ^-^) but that's always a risk at family get togethers._

_After the food had been finished, I got up and started carrying my Little Nikki from the room ... she was falling asleep ... and I didn't want to have any one risk waking her up ... as I was carrying her in my arms I could feel several pairs of eyes on me, and I think I heard someone go "awwwww" under their breath. _

_Once I had actually left the dining hall, I heard Phelios say "well, the night has come upon us, so why don't we all get some rest? The servants will escort you to your rooms and ..." I didn't try to hear the rest. I used the lilke ring on my finger to teleport to my room, and then locked the door ... as soon as it was late enough, I would no doubt be having several female visitors ... visitors that I could really do without_

_I carefully changed my Little Nikki into her pyjamas, the ones that had been left in my room this morning, and placed her underneath the quilt, before getting changed myself ... just before I started, I went to the window, locked it and closed the curtains ... just as I did, I heard a very gentle scuffling sound on the ledge outside and opened the curtain again ... Cousin Roxanne was on the ledge and looked very disappointed until she saw I had opened the curtain ... then she looked scary ... I closed the curtain again and got changed quickly._

_I didn't fall asleep until well after midnight ... maybe it had something to do with the people trying to open my door (which I ended up locking magically when one relative ended up picking it open) and gentle pulling on the window (also magically locked but done after the door as a preventative)_

_My relatives are all really creepy ... I'm glad my Little Nikki was able to sleep through that..._

_The next morning was not pleasant … Cousin Roxanne stole one of Keld's lilke rings … and teleported into my room … she was actually trying to squeeze between my Little Nikki and I before I woke up and forced her off the bed … and realized that I had (once again) slept shirtless … I wish the vamps __were__ still here … I could kill her and blame it on them … I grabbed a singlet from near my bed and put it on … Cousin Roxanne starts pleading with me to leave it off but there is no way that I will listen to what she is asking me … once my shirt is on, I gently pick up my Little Nikki, and leave the room … well, I opened the door and twenty-ish female relatives were asleep on the floor just outside the door, and 43 others were wide awake and glaring pure death at Cousin Roxanne … not at my Little Nikki or me, at Cousin Roxanne …_

_The rest of the female relatives woke up and I started running … if they didn't kill me by assassination, they were going to kill me by love …_

_My Little Nikki had now woken up, and was just as freaked as I was … she was holding on to me carefully, to make sure she didn't fall …_

_We eventually ran into Keld and he gave them all stern warnings, and sent them back to their rooms before apologizing to us_

"We really should have put this get-together on hold, but they just wouldn't have it, because it was already so close to the day … I'll inform King Vord and Queen Falan about Princess Roxanne's behaviour, and I'll do my best to prevent the camping outside your bedroom, but that is all that is in my power, for that I apologize."

_If Keld could just keep Roxanne away from me and my Little Nikki, everything else could be handled._

_We were able to return to my room after sneaking into my Little Nikki's to get her some clean clothes._

_I dressed my Little Nikki in a simple white dress, that had a black band around her waist before dressing myself in non-descript black pants, and a long-sleeved loose fitting top … I would have left it at that, but I'm weird so I ended up tucking my shirt, so it was almost form fitting at my hips and lower torso but loose every where else … this sort of outfit is actually one of my favourites, but I should never wear it when we have relatives within a 100 metre radius of the castle and village … _

_They can hear the sound of fabric moving … and they will lie in wait until I happen to come by_

_The only reason I'm wearing it is that I don't plan for my Little Nikki and I to be spending any time in the castle aside from breakfast, dinner, and sleeping … I grab another of my lilke rings … once I use this, I'll have nine left, but all the relatives are going home tomorrow morning … which my Little Nikki and I are thoroughly looking forward to_

_We are the last to breakfast, and ruling law states that for family get-togethers of this scale, everyone must be present before any eating can be done … Phelios was pissed, and so were several unknown male relatives, Uncle Vord, Aunt Falan, Lady Leene and Sir Lejuuy were half asleep because they weren't used to getting up, Sir Ashley was talking to Keld about some political matters, Uncle Seiliez and Uncle Laphiji were talking about something to do with their counsellors …Cousin Roxanne and everyone else had actually been sitting in watch of the doors, waiting for our arrival … and their reaction when we came in scared the shit out of me …_

"HE'S CARRYING HER SHE IS SO LUCKY LOOK AT THEIR OUTFITS THEY ARE SO CUTE TOGETHER OH I WISH I COULD BE IN HER SHOES RIGHT NOW LOOK AT PRINCE DUZELL'S SMILE HE IS JUST SO HOT HE NEVER SMILED LIKE THAT BEFORE PRINCESS NIKKI CAME SHE IS SUCH A LITTLE ANGEL IF SHE WERE TO TRAVEL TO RAZENIA WOULD HE COME TOO PLEASE LET ME BE YOUR GIRLFRIEND YOU TWO ARE JUST SO ADORABLE WHY DOESN'T THE FAMILY HAVE MORE LOOKERS LIKE YOU HE IS SO HOT!"

_If you can offer any translations to that I am willing to pay you… seriously, because I have no idea what the hell just happened_

_After a breakfast of food, I quickly grab a hold of my Little Nikki and swing her onto one of my shoulders (for those who don't recognise the significance of this gesture, I am a heavy, __**HEAVY**__ CLAMP fan and while this is being written I am under the current addiction of RG Veda, and Little Nikki is being carried Ashura style) and then poof away (using teleport spell that will only distract the relatives for thirty five seconds) into the kitchen and quickly grab the munchies, and put them in a bag just before Cousin Roxanne bursts through the doors … with an army of relatives behind her _

_Feeling evil (well … eviller than normal) I give a smile and then use the lilke ring to once again poof away from the rabid relatives talking about pure smut … alright Cousin Roxanne was talking smut and the rest of them were yelling about how much they loved me … have I told you that my relatives are all either insane, murdering-power obsessed or sex driven? Yes I just did._

_My Little Nikki and I leave the creepy relatives of doom, and teleport to the field behind the village … even with how long and hard Cousin Roxanne will be searching, my Little Nikki and I will be safe here … it is after all, the very last place to look for us … and they always look here last._

**IS THE ENDING! This chaperation is of the even longer length then the chapternalia of the last one! I apologize for the lack of understandings my statements bring but I'm not going to stop doing it!**


	5. Succurro Mihi percello is Regiu

**I bid the people readers a welcoming statement!**

_My Little Nikki and I spent the entire day playing in the field ... we were eventually found, just ten minutes before dinner would start and so when we had gotten back to the castle there was no time to change, so My Little Nikki and I just sat down and started eating our food ... after dinner, Keld said a few words of thanks for all our relatives and friends showing up for the ramshackle reunion, and I once again beat a hasty retreat with my darling daughter ... that night, My Little Nikki and I actually slept in her room with the doors to my room magically locked as had been done the night before, and all the relatives that came by assumed that we were in there again._

_The night passed quickly and without trouble._

_The next morning, My Little Nikki woke up first and even got dressed especially for the farewell ceremony for the visitors._

_She was wearing a black silk dress that contrasted her moon-white hair. The dress was formal, and as such, you could not see her feet, which had been donned in matching shoes, and once again, her arms were draped with delicate sleeves that ended at her tiny knuckles. Once she had been dressed, My Little Nikki then put the amulet half around her neck._

_No matter what outfit she is wearing, My Little Nikki always wears the amulet half I gave her. Even if it looks bad with the outfit, even if some complains and tells her to take it off, My Little Nikki always wears it, and she wears it over her clothes, so that everyone may see it. I asked her a while ago why, and she said it was because she wanted everyone to know that she was __my__ daughter ... I then realised that I am always wearing my amulet half over my clothes as well ... My Little Nikki was just copying what I was already doing ... Is she beyond adorable or what?_

_When I finally woke up, My Little Nikki was trying to decide what to do with her hair; tie it up or leave it out, and when she realises that I'm awake, she asks my opinion._

_We end up tying her hair loosely in a clasp that is black, but decorated with a single, gleaming silver crescent moon, and clip matching earrings to her ears ... My Little Nikki then expressed an interest in getting her ears pierced and I told her I would think about it._

_We then, using the ultimate sneaking around skills passed down to me from my mother, sneak into my room, get some clothes, and sneak back into My Little Nikki's room._

_I had already decided what I was going to wear for the farewell ceremony that would take place after breakfast today, and my darling daughter loved my choice_

_I wore a skin tight black suit that had all necessary extras (buttons and linings) in silver. I wore my amulet half where all could see it, and I realised that I didn't care that it didn't go with the outfit, but I kinda wanted to keep my luck closer to my heart ... when I told My Little Nikki this, she though on it for a moment and then suggested, that for this one occasion seeing as we were likely to be mobbed again, we should wear our amulets under our finery. So we did._

_I pulled out the present from my father for my 11__th__ birthday ... one of the only times he put a huge amount of thought into what to get me... the only time other than that was when I was seven and wanted to learn how to ride a horse... father spent a whole week teaching me before I got it down, and then spent the week next making sure I was alright with it..._

_But this present means just a little bit more to me than that..._

_Father knew about my being The Vampire Kings reincarnation, mother told him the day after I died the last time ... but he still loved me as his son ... I really am appreciative of that ..._

_Father, for my 11__th__, went out two months before to find something ... and that something is in my hands now and I can't help but smile at it..._

_Father found a rare stone, called kornoom (Cor-num) and made it into a special hair clasp for me, since I had been growing my hair for as long as I could remember ... Kornoom had special meaning to vampires ... it meant the passing of honour... my father was giving me the honour he had earned, and he was giving it to my very soul._

_The clasp isn't very large, but it has beauty throughout its entirety... a small, silver full moon, surrounded by a black and gold dragon, about to claim it within its jaws... I wear it only when I can feel something extra special coming up ... and I felt it deep in my bones as soon as the guests started arriving..._

_Something big was on its way, and I couldn't tell if it were friend or foe._

**Cliffy times : )**

_As we entered the dining hall, I regretted the last decision I made with my outfit ... I had added a cape... I like capes and rarely wear 'em so I thought what the hell and put one on ... now I have made my stalker relatives very happy and all my murdering relatives plot... luckily the two cancel the other out so I am not dead yet, by love or murder._

_We finished the meal relatively intact ... sir Lejuuy had been drinking heavily and was severely hung-over and Sir Ashley and Lady Leene were trying to explain it away that he was just tired, not related to his over consumption of alcohol in the slightest... no one was convinced but they kept that to themselves._

_After breakfast we received news of some hooligans on the road, so departure was delayed (remember that feeling I had?) and so everyone was to stay until the palace guards got it sorted out._

_Phelios was willing to let everyone split up for a while but Keld said that would cause trouble once the issue was resolved so we all went to the Ballroom (its huge) where some music was played and everyone just started chatting to one another._

_I was actually catching up with Aunt Falan when My Little Nikki asked me if I could sing for her ... Roxanne stared at me in disbelief, mainly because only Mother, Father, and My Little Nikki have ever heard me sing ... not even Phelios has heard my singing voice (which I know to be a good thing because I don't think I'm a particularly good singer)_

_I normally would have said no, but a storm had been brewing, and my precious daughter was feeling anxious and I wanted to soothe her fears ... I end up walking to the musicians and tell them what I am about to do ... songs always sound better when they have music with them_

_The musicians don't let me down and I can feel the melody enter into my soul and capture my heart ... the words flow from my mouth without any memory to the lyrics_

If I never knew you  
If I never felt this love  
I would have no inkling of  
How precious life can be

And if I never held you  
I would never have a clue  
how at last I'd find in you  
the missing part of me

_As I'm singing everyone is watching me and I know that Phelios will never let me live this down, but I don't care ... The entire point of my singing is to make My Little Nikki, my darling daughter, feel safe, as the rain starts to fall._

In this world so full of fear  
Full of rage and lies  
I can see the truth so clear  
in your eyes  
so dry your eyes

And I'm so grateful to you  
I'd have lived my whole life through  
Lost forever  
If I never knew you

_I can feel that everyone is watching me, and I don't care ... whenever I sing, my eyes are always closed so that I don't watch people watching me ... I know that I'm being watched but if I can't see it, then all that matters is the song_

If I never knew you  
I'd be safe but half as real  
Never knowing I could feel  
A love so strong and true

I'm so grateful to you  
I'd have lived my whole life through  
Lost forever  
If I never knew you

_I can feel my voice being carried into the farthest reaches of the ballroom ... I can feel the vibrations of the instruments behind me as they play the melody I know so well ... as they play the song that I sing with my heart_

If I never knew you  
If I never knew this love  
I would have no inkling of  
How precious life can be

There's no moment I regret  
since the moment that we met  
if our time has gone too fast  
I've lived at last...

_The rain falls hard to the earth, but I cannot hear it from the music or the song. All I can hear is the melody, and the words that represent my soul_

And still my heart is singing  
we were right  
And If I never knew you  
I'd have lived my whole life through

Empty as the sky

Never knowing why  
lost forever  
if I never knew you

_As I finish the song, the melody slowly fades away, disappearing slowly and gently back into the instruments from where it came, until the only sound left in the ballroom, is from the heavy falling of rain_

**And Cliffy-bot 3000 strikes again! MWAHAHA! Thx to Disney's Pocahontas**

_I open my eyes after what seems like an eternity since I ended the song and find that every single one of my relatives is staring at me ... crap ... I can feel myself flushing and cover my face with one of my hands in embarrassment... why did I think that I wouldn't be embarrassed? Almost no one in the family has heard me sing and yet I briefly thought that this would all end okay? _

_Crap_

"That was beautiful ..."

_I look in surprise at the voice and find it to be Lady Leene_

"That was more than beautiful Lady Leene ... that was divine ..."

_Aunt Falan was complimenting me as well but I was just getting more embarrassed ... as more and more of my relatives began talking about how nicely I sounded and such, I felt a little tug at my sleeve and found My Little Nikki looking up at me smiling I crouched next to her with a smile on my lips and she gave me a cuddle_

"That was really pretty Daddy ... even prettier than the time you sang me happy birthday ... I love you too"

_I cuddled My Little Nikki back and suddenly realised that everyone was looking at us ... most of them with goo-goo eyes, and several envious ones ... I have told you that my relatives are freaky ... right?_

_Just as I was about to tell them off for doing nothing but staring, the main doors to the room burst open._

_As I covered her, I felt My Little Nikki shiver from the sudden cold. I looked to the door and see a man in blood stained clothes enter, a malicious smile across his face and a group of followers behind him._

_As soon as I saw him, dread set stone within my gut, and I could feel the power of darkness emanating from this man in levels that would have killed a human ... I may have been only one of a few, but I could tell that this man and his followers, were vampires._

**Cliffy-bot screws wit chore mind!**

"Who are you? State yourself!"

_It has always amazed me at just how calm Keld can remain in the worst situations; this man was reeking of pure death and destruction, but Keld stood tall and was demanding answers the man at the door started laughing and threw something towards Keld ... at Keld's feet lay the body of the captain who went to get rid of the hooligans on the road out to the Phelostian capital... the captain was severely injured and even if he was still alive, there was no way we would be able to save his life ... an arm was missing and he was bleeding deeply from his left side where a sword had been run through him. I knew it to be a sword wound by the fact that the sword was still in the captain's body._

_I kept My Little Nikki's eyes sheltered ... as much as I want her to experience the world we live in, I have no desire to let her be witness to such carnage, as is all this can be called. She keeps asking me to let her see, to see what is making all the adults scream and panic ... what has made me fear for my precious daughter ... but no matter how she cries, this is the one time that I shall not let her be indulged, the one time, that I shall say no to the angel who gave my world light. I dare not even loosen my grip upon her as she starts to struggle, trying to free herself so that she may understand what is going to happen, but no matter what, I will not allow this image to be set into her memory_

_As the relatives are panicking, the stranger has started laughing, and so I use the opportunity to whisk my daughter into the secret passageway in the ballroom ... it is a tunnel formed behind a pillar. It is a dead end, so when we have entered, I cast a sleep spell on My Little Nikki, and she falls into a deep slumber. I didn't want to use magic on her, but even more than that, I don't want her to see what I am about to do... even I wish that what is about to happen didn't have to, but seeing as a vampire of such a level is here, and with so much of my family here, the only course of action is down the path that stretches before me, like a hallway in the castle during the darkest hours of night, only a smattering of light is there to see but no light is strong enough to illuminate the path, so I most certain that at one point I shall stray, and hurt something, or worse, someone. As I leave the passageway, I cast the spell __Sedo Obscurum __(it's Latin, look it up) and all the screaming stopped. The vampiric intruder looked at me through the spell and started laughing again._

"To think that a mere human would have the necessary skills to cast the spell of darkness with barely an incantation ... who are you lad? I can tell by your regal splendour that you are one of the higher classed among the Phelostian line"

"From the house of Phelios, I hold the position of second in line for the throne. Second born of the Late Queen Ishtar and her partner General Darres of Pheliosta, I bear the name opposite my brother and this kingdom. I am Phelostia's Prince Duzell."

_I have no idea why I gave such a fancy intro, but I did, and it really impressed the crazed visitors in front of me ... it impressed the vampires too._

"So here I find the one who claimed our lords' title ... well to be fair, you yourself did not claim it, but you shall receive the same fate as the one who bestowed it to you should have ... you shall either be crushed until not even your bone marrow remains, or you shall be, and believe me when I tell you that this is a great honour for a dismal mortal such as yourself, turned into one of us."

_Wasn't expecting to hear that one frankly..._

_The other vamps began to slowly come near me, which forced the spell of darkness to fade, one of the females was actually at my side and was urging me to go along with the whole vampirism thing, and then the others joined in ... so I cast __Adepto abyssus a mihi__ and the spell forced them away with screams of anguish ... I don't know why they weren't expecting that but hey, and what have you ... _

_When the leading vamp saw my attack all formalities were dropped and he lunged for my throat. I dodged and then cast a very powerful spell that actually is vampiric in nature. It was made by the vampire king (me two lifetimes ago) for Phelios but it is nothing like La Gamme or Sidia. It is the spell __Cado Cruor, Succurro Mihi percello is Regius Poena in Solum__ which summons the soul taker blade, named __Fallen Blood__._

_The lead vamp promptly shat himself, and all the minion vamps ran off in terror and left the castle._

"Very few men, mortal, immortal or otherwise, have felt the blade of this sword and lived to tell its tale of terror and might ... and only one with the blood of the creator is able to wield it did you know? Most identical to Sidia in that regard"

_As I said that, Phelios appeared by my side with Sidia in hand and eliminated one of the remaining minions. He then looked at me resolutely_

"Will the Vampire King fight alongside the Warrior Saint?"

_I felt myself smile as Phelios spoke those words ... normally we are fighting each other, but he is proposing a truce of sorts, until the common enemy is disposed of_

"I believe I shall, but do not forget, Phelios my brother, that I started this fight, and as such bear rights to finish it!"

_I swung Fallen Blood and removed the Lead vamps legs_

"That isn't fair Duzell! Why do you get all the fun? Yeah you can cut him up to bits but I should be allowed to end his miserable existence!"

_I scoffed in a contemptuous manner and after eliminating more of the remaining minions turned to face my twin_

"Excuse me? Seeing as I did not invite you into this battle you have no right to claim his life! If I had asked for you to participate then fair dose to call dibbs, but you came in on your own, which can be classified as interrupting!"

_Phelios turned to look at me and was about to start arguing when at least five vampirian flocks appeared out of nowhere and tried to attack us. Phelios turned to the problem and swung sidia while casting __Abolesco__, a powerful holy spell_

"Yes my joining in was not premeditated in any way, but as I have joined the battle with the express desire of removing the intruder, I feel that calling my actions interruptions is unwarranted and must therefore be deemed null and void, thereby allowing me the right to finish the battle by ending his life!"

_More vamps joined the ranks and actually formed almost a tornado surrounding us while they were flying in circles and I cast the holy spell __Decolor__ (still Latin, I am not just making up the spell names!) to thin the vampiric forces_

"Phelios, I do appreciate the gesture of trying to protect our home from unwanted scumbags trying to eat us, I do, honestly. But the fact remains that I am the one that caused the trouble to escalate to this level, so I should therefore be the one responsible for remedying the situation, and as you have already stated, in as many and as few words, that can only happen if I kill the damn intruding bastard myself!"

_Phelios obliterated several vamps with Sidia while I terminated several more with Fallen Blood _

"Look Duzell, you got to party with the last vampire flock and I didn't so why can't I have some fun too?"

"EXCUSE ME?"

_Phelios' statement had me surprised and kinda angry so I wasted about thirty vamps before talking to him again_

"The Flammeus Nocturna, were hiding out in the secret passage, you can have Zadora verify that, and came out trying to cause havoc! My Little Nikki and I would have been teleported out with the rest of you but the stupid newbie mage freaked out and we ended up being left behind idiot! If I could have that redone, I would've made damn sure I was teleported out with the rest of you, but it didn't happen that way! More than anything I'm grateful that those bastard bats didn't manage to harm My Little Nikki!"

_More bats bit the belfry_

"I've been meaning to tell you, but it's really creepy the way you call her 'Your Little Nikki', I mean, I can understand giving someone you care about a pet name, but you make it sound as though you claimed her or something, and frankly that just sounds weird, brother"

_I waste ten or so vamps before smacking Phelios on the back of his head_

"Like I care moron! She is my daughter, and she has no problem being called My Little Nikki! Seriously, what is up with you? Ever since you first met her you've been trying to get rid of her ... are you jealous of her or something? 'Cause if you are that is some seriously messed up s#!% right there man!"

_Phelios stares at me in shock before completely obliterating some more vamps_

"I'm not jealous stupid! It's just that she has no royal blood in her at all and she looks absolutely nothing like you so we can't hide the fact that she isn't your biological daughter! After she has grown up some more, people will realise that it was stupid of you to adopt her and they will most likely riot until you disown her! I know you said that you would rather renounce your claim to the throne but there is no way you would actually be able to! You forget how well I know you Duzell!"

_I dispose of thirty or so vamps before speaking again_

"You say you know me well, Phelios, but you were in beyond shock that I would risk my life for yours, and indeed that I would willingly trade my safety and life for the sake of a ten year old girl! You don't know me as well as you think dimwit!"

_It was at that point that there was only the lead vampire left, the rest having been destroyed by Phelios and myself ... unfortunately as we were still arguing over who got to kill him, Uncle Laphiji cast a spell that didn't leave even any dust of the vamp that I had mutilated_

_A lot of our relatives just stared at Phelios and I ... I found out later from Keld that it was because they could actually hear what we were saying perfectly ... and they found it nearly impossible to believe that we had been talking about all that while fighting several flocks of vampires ... they could only believe it because they had seen us fight._

**MESSING! With your mind!**

_As I was retrieving My Little Nikki, I saw Roxanne watching me again ... it is very disturbing when you have a relative stalking you ... she then ran off, and started jabbering away to Uncle Vord and Aunt Falan._

_Once I got to where My Little Nikki was sleeping and had gotten her out of the passageway, Keld called me over and informed me that due to the vampires presence, the family would be staying one more night and the holy knights would be called out. Fallen Blood was been put away but the side effects would hit hard tomorrow ... as I cradled My Little Nikki, I thought about the bad feeling I had ... and the next thing I knew I singing gently to my darling daughter_

The second star to the right  
Shines in the night for you  
To tell you that the dreams you plan  
Really can come true

_I don't know why the castle was attacked, but I do know that I did what was needed to protect my daughter ... more than anything, I don't want My Little Nikki to get involved with battles that I start ... she is just like mother was, a peace maker, not a fighter_

The second star to the right  
Shines with a light that's rare  
And if it's Never Land you need  
It's light will lead you there

_As always my eyes are closed and I can feel the vibrations of the rain falling on the roof above me, but I then realise that the musicians have started playing again, and are matching the tune to my words_

Twinkle, twinkle little star  
So I'll know where you are  
Gleaming in the skies above  
Lead me to the one who loves me

_I can feel some relatives humming along as I stand over the captains body ... everyone knows that he loved this song_

And when you bring them my way  
Each time we say "Goodnight"  
We'll thank the little star that shines  
The second from the right

_As the song ends, and the melody fades from the air I open my eyes and say a silent prayer for the captain ... when the melody has finally faded from the ballroom, the only sound anyone can hear, is the cold, hard pelting of rain_

_**Thanks once again to Disney, only this one is from Peter Pan ... Yay!**_

_I awoke within the deepest hours of the night to the sound of a violin ... everyone was exhausted because of everything that had happened and had just gone straight to bed. I had placed My Little Nikki into her bed before going to my own ... another of Fallen Bloods side effects is that for the night after it has been used, my dreams are haunted by the lives it has taken ... when you're a vampire this is actually a lot of fun, and I actually think that I designed it to do that, but when you're a human, it really creeps you out but any way ..._

_I got up and followed the sound ... it was clear and gentle ... I once heard mother say 'True genius and artistic ability lies, not in making someone able to see, but in making someone able to feel' ... just listening to the clean edge of the violins music, I can feel the soul of the person at the bow ... the person is kind and gentle, and very much at peace right now ... but they are also sad ... as though they have been placed under a binding curse and it threatens to drag them to the depths of the blackest night. _

_It is amazing how you can hear a person's soul through music._

_Maybe all the guests heard mine when I sang today? Who knows, but the guests themselves as they heard what they wanted to hear_

_I find myself near the balcony and peer slightly out onto it to see who is playing, but I can barely see anything in the dark ... there is no moon out tonight_

_Many people think of the moon as a way for vamps to gain spiritual power, but that's a load of bull. The moon is a vampire's sun ... we get our power from the sun but direct sunlight is too strong for most vampires to be able to stand, they get to much power and actually explode. At midnight, the moon is reflecting the maximum amount of sunlight most vampires can stand without going boom_

_I could stand going out in the daylight in my second incarnation because I grew used to it in my feline form ... most other vamps just blew up_

_I sneak out further to see who it is and am surprised to see Sir Lejuuy ... I had no idea that he could play the violin so beautifully ... or that he could even play the violin at all for that matter..._

_He turned suddenly and saw me, but if I surprised him, he hid it well, in fact ... he asked me to stay and listen. Of course I would but I asked him why_

_"Mother once told me, that she fell in love with your mother when she was still a princess because she was so kind ... I always that that was funny because my mother picks fights at the drop of a hat and even if she is wrong she will stick by her decisions no matter what ... but when I heard you sing today ... I didn't see you singing ... I saw the kindness and wonderfulness of your mother that I'm always being told about ... I know that I'm a brat; I'm selfish, I'm spoiled, and I don't have a problem hurting or embarrassing other to prevent those exact things from happening to me ...no one in this family has ever heard you sing ... and you know that Phelios will torment you for ages over it ... but you still got up and sang ... I have been playing the violin for years, since I was five, but I have never played to anyone but mother and father ... I refused to play for anyone else ... you showed a lot of courage to just get up and sing for your daughter ... despite what Phelios says ... everyone knows that she could only ever really be your daughter, I mean, just think about the way she looks and smiles at you ... compared to you Duzell ... I am nothing."_

_Sir Lejuuy didn't say anything else, but began to play, I sat with him on the balcony and listened ... his music was pure and his technique strong ... a master violinist and a confident method was being used as he played ... he didn't play for others because he was afraid that they wouldn't hear the beauty of the music ... that they would only see him as the son of Sir Ashley and Lady Leene_

_**And the Cliffy-bot strikes at serious and pure awesome moment of pure and serious awesome! And at the end of the chapter! See you … sorry, hopefully hear from you, next chapter! Toodles and Love, Oky Verlo**_


End file.
